25 November 2025
Over the past two years of Israel’s genocide, the Israeli military has systematically targeted Gaza’s health system. Palestinian healthcare workers have been continuously targeted, detained and subject to torture and ill treatment by Israeli forces. More than 1,686 healthcare workers have been killed. This amounts to an average of two healthcare workers killed every day since October 2023.
The independent UN Commission of Inquiry on the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem and Israel, concluded in October 2024 that Israeli forces have committed war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination in Gaza. It was found that Israel has implemented a concerted policy to destroy Gaza’s healthcare system, and its forces have “deliberately killed, wounded, arrested, detained, mistreated and tortured medical personnel and targeted medical vehicles.” These acts were carried out alongside Israeli authorities’ collective punishment of Palestinians, through the tightened siege of Gaza which has resulted in shortages of fuel, food, water, medicine and medical supplies at hospitals.
Palestinian healthcare workers have worked in unimaginable conditions, with hospitals operating severely beyond their capacity, patients being treated on the floor due to shortages of beds, and doctors operating on patients without any painkillers or anaesthetic. Despite the fragile ceasefire, healthcare workers continue to work day and night, many without rest, leading to chronic exhaustion. Israeli forces have also killed many doctors in key specialties resulting in shortages of specialist care that are desperately needed, including Dr. Adnan Al Bursh, Head of Orthopaedics at Shifa Hospital and one of the only specialist orthopaedic surgeons in Gaza, who was tortured to death in Israeli custody.
Despite widespread documentation of these attacks, the international community, including the UK, has failed to ensure meaningful accountability and justice. The UK government has repeated calls for Israel to investigate its forces’ apparent violations of international law, despite evidence that Israel’s military investigation system has consistently and repeatedly proven itself unwilling or unable to conduct genuine investigations into alleged serious international crimes, systematically denying Palestinians any prospect of justice or accountability.
As reported by Yesh Din, of 664 reviewed complaints transferred to the military concerning Israel’s military assaults on Gaza in 2014, 2021, and during the Great March of Return in 2018-19, where the outcome is known, just 0.17% led to prosecution. Such a system is neither credible, transparent, nor impartial, and it must not be recognised as legitimate.
The chronic impunity afforded to Israel has emboldened the Israeli military’s continued disregard for the protections guaranteed under international humanitarian law for aid and healthcare workers. It tells the world: Palestinian lives can be taken without consequences. Without genuine investigations and legal accountability, it is not a surprise that Israeli forces continued to kill and injure Palestinian health workers throughout the genocide in Gaza.
Under UN Security Council resolution 2286, which was unanimously passed to condemn attacks on health services in conflicts around the world, states must comply with international humanitarian and human rights law and take proactive steps to hold perpetrators of violations to account. This means protection for the wounded and sick, medical personnel and humanitarian personnel as well as means of transport and equipment, and hospitals and other medical facilities. States must also demand an end to impunity for those responsible for such attacks.
Israel’s persistent violations of international humanitarian law and the absence of a meaningful response from the international community, including the UK, not only threatens Palestinians, but the very foundations of international law and humanitarian norms globally.
Continued inaction from the international community will allow for Israeli forces to continue killing Palestinians despite the ceasefire agreement. A “sustainable peace” will not be achieved without addressing the root causes of the chronic humanitarian needs in Gaza, particularly Israel’s continued violations of international law and the persistent impunity that has been afforded over decades.
The UK Government is legally and morally obligated to act. It must take all possible legal, diplomatic, and economic measures to hold perpetrators accountable and finally end Israel’s impunity, including by:
Photo: A 10-metre-long memorial wall in London, established by MAP, to pay tribute to the healthcare workers killed by the Israeli military in Gaza since October 2023.
